Also Thursday, Astros pitcher Charlie Morton rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning American League Player of the Day honors.

Player of the Day—Arrieta struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks, in the 7-0 win over the Pirates.

This was Arrieta’s first overall Player of the Day honor since Sept. 23, 2016. He had no Player of the Day honors in 2017 with the Cubs, when he had 6.7 Box-Toppers points, 38th among National League pitchers. Arrieta led all players in 2015 with 29.1 points.

American League Player of the Day—Astros pitcher Charlie Morton struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks, in the 9-2 win over the Mariners.

Morton earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 4.4 for the season and rising to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings, fourth place among AL pitchers.

American League Batter of the Day—Leonys Martin of the Tigers hit a grand slam and tripled, going 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 13-8 win over the Orioles.

National League Batter of the Day—Lorenzo Cain of the Brewers homered and hit two doubles, going 3-for-4, scoring four times and driving in two runs, in the 12-3 win over the Marlins.

Streak—Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke has now earned Box-Toppers points in 12 straight seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2018 Thursday.

Greinke (7IP 3H R BB 2K W in the 3-1 win over the Giants) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2004 with the Royals. However, he earned no points in 2006, so his 12-season streak began in 2007 with the Royals.

He has 177.2 career Box-Toppers points, eighth among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails seventh-ranked Alex Rodriguez (187.0) on the “all-time” list. Greinke ranks fourth among active players in career points.

Greinke’s best season was 2009 with the Royals when he had 21.5 Box-Toppers points, first among all players. He’s had three seasons with 20 or more Box-Toppers points, including 2009, 2015 with the Dodgers (20.7) and 2017 with the Diamondbacks (20.1). In 2017, he ranked eighth among all players and fourth among NL pitchers.

All-time leaders

Here are Box-Toppers top 20 players since record keeping began in 1995:

Notable—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rises to 18th place on Box-Toppers “all-time” career points list after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.

Lester (6IP 2H R BB 7K W in the 8-5 win over the Cardinals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 155.9 career points, rising to 18th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He passes Rangers pitcher Bartolo Colon (154.9) and Mike Mussina (155.6) on the list and now trails 17th-ranked player, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander (156.0). (It should be noted that Mussina would have an estimated 193 career Box-Toppers points if his entire career from 1991 were tracked.) Lester ranks eighth in career points among active players. He has 2.0 Box-Toppers points on the season, ninth among NL pitchers.

Also notable—Three past Box-Toppers Player of the Year winners—Arrieta, Lester and Greinke—earned Player of the Game honors Thursday.

Arrieta was Player of the Year in 2015 (leading all players with 29.1 Box-Toppers points), Lester was Player of the Year in 2010 (leading all players with 23.4 points) and Greinke was Player of the Year in 2009 (leading all players with 21.5 points).

Scoring—Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Morton earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Martin and Cain each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.

MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’18). also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’17-18), the period 2013-2018 (’13-18) and each players’ career point total. also shown is how their 2018 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2017 total (+/-).

Box-Toppers

Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.

Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. Players earn Box-Toppers points for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.